Eli on Earth: How does EL's recycling get sorted, and what can go in my cart?

Do you place bottles, cans or other recyclables in plastic bags before disposing them in your single-stream curbside recycling container? If so, it is likely that your recyclables are not actually getting recycled at all.

Curbside recycling materials picked up in East Lansing are combined with City of Lansing recycling items and hauled to ReCommunity’s Material Recover Facility in Ann Arbor. ReCommunity sorts the materials using a wide variety of manual and mechanical methods including vibrating screens, gusts of air, magnets and optical sorting.

The sorting equipment separates “flats” like paper from “rounds” such as containers. Eventually after many sorting steps recyclable materials sent to ReCommunity are sorted by type, baled, and sold to be reused into other materials.

“Plastic bags get jammed in sorting conveyor belts, add time to the sorting process, and are a safety hazard. It is difficult to determine when a plastic bag is full of trash or full of clean recyclables. Often, for safety’s sake, the default is usually to assume the bag is full of trash,” states East Lansing’s Environmental Services Administrator Cathy DeShambo. “The only exception to the plastic bag rule is shredded paper. It can be placed inside of recycling carts but it must be in a clear plastic bag.”

While plastic bags and household trash are an issue according to DeShambo the most common non-recyclable item found is Styrofoam, usually in the form of to-go containers. Styrofoam of any kind is unacceptable material.

It is also important to note that household hazardous waste such as motor oil or paint can easily contaminate an entire load of otherwise viable recyclable material and should be disposed of properly, instead of being placed in recycling containers. Oil based paints, solvents, and many other types of household hazardous waste can be disposed of at the Ingham County Human Services Building, 5303 South Cedar Street, in Lansing every Thursday from May to the end of September from 2:00-6:00 pm.

“We find approximately 5% of recycling carts will have some level of issue ranging in seriousness from finding some Styrofoam on top of an otherwise clean cart of recyclables to finding a recycling cart entirely full of yard waste or trash,” said DeShambo, “We don't want product mixed in with our recyclables that degrades the quality or causes the materials to be landfilled. Small amounts of grease from a double cheese pizza that is visible on the box is okay, but leaving a couple slices in the box is problematic.”

Clothing, textile, and household goods from purses to toasters are recyclable in the city of East Lansing via Simple Recycling. Items should be placed in green Simple Recycling bags and placed curbside on the regular recycling day. Be sure not to place the bags on or in the curbside recycling cart, as they could mistakenly be sent to the ReCommunity’s Material Recover Center instead of to Simple Recycling, which collects items and sells them to partner thrift stores around the US.

To learn more about the curbside recycling program in East Lansing visit www.cityofeastlansing.com/278/Yard-Waste-Recycling-Refuse. More information is regarding ReCommunity is available at http://www.recommunity.com/virtual-mrf.